Filipino-American
community leaders must tell visiting Philippine President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo to go home as soon as possible and attend to the pressing problems of
the homeland. People must tell her that she cannot attend to the recent
disaster of national magnitude by remote control. She cannot be talking to her subordinate
officials by teleconferences, even if aired live on nationwide Filipino radio. Before
she scolds more Filipino public servants publicly for their supposed errors,
she must blame herself for not providing the right leadership in changing a
corrupt system that is responsible for the routinary comedy of errors that
plagues the country.

It has been the
tradition of leaders – even of mere cities – who are on official trips abroad
to return home on the first sign of trouble or disaster. Los Angeles
(California) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa cut short his trip in Central America
when he learned of a clash between the Los Angeles Police Department and
demonstrators on May 1, 2007. To read our report about the May 1, 2007,
incident, please click on this link:

President Arroyo left Metro Manila just as typhoon Frank (international
code-named Typhoon Fengshen) was approaching the nation’s capital. Earlier
the moderately-strong typhoon had devastated areas from Mindanao all the way to
Central Luzon. According to press reports, Typhoon Frank packed sustained winds
of 74 miles per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph. It shifted course Sunday to the
northwest and battered Manila at dawn, dumping heavy rain on the capital. Major
streets were flooded, and numerous traffic lights were out.

The storm left at
least 175 dead, submerging entire communities and setting off landslides, said
Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine National Red Cross. There were
concerns the death toll would jump dramatically. Damages to the country’s
infrastructures and the economy, especially the agricultural section, are
estimated to top several billions of pesos.

Perhaps the sentiment of many Filipinos and
Overseas Filipinos is right that Gloria M. Arroyo is the biggest
disaster to hit the Philippine Presidential Palace.The 72 people listed as missing did not include the more than 800 passengers
and crew aboard the MV Princess of Stars, which sank as a result of the waves
spawned by the typhoon off the Island of Romblon.

And yet,
President Arroyo will not only be meeting with American leaders and rubbing
elbows with American captains of industry but also tendering an expensive
dinner in New York City for United Nations dignitaries, as if the Philippines could afford such
frills.

The presidency is
a serious business. It does not call for dancing the “Lambada” at the
presidential palace with visiting Hollywood stars. It does not call for flying
to Mindanao to accept the surrender of a serial-killer suspect who was reported
to have eaten the brains of an Italian Catholic missionary whom he allegedly
murdered. It does not call for a President to act like Santa Claus and dispense
millions of pesos in cash as gifts to congressional and local-government
leaders even when Christmas is months away. And certainly, it looks disastrous
to leave the nation’s capital to fly to the United States just as a strong storm is
approaching the most-populous area of the country.

Mrs. Arroyo must
understand that even a lameduck President can still salvage her presidential
legacy but only if she acts like a good parent of a family. It is not only ugly
to see the head of the Filipino people dash off to a foreign country in the
face of a looming natural calamity but also uglier to note that the Filipino
President refused to cut her trip short to attend to the consequences of the
disaster. In one way, perhaps the sentiment of many Filipinos and Overseas
Filipinos is right that the Arroyo Dispensation is the biggest disaster to hit
the Office of the Philippine President. # # #